It has always proved exciting for me to receive an email from iFi, and the same held true when they reached out to me regarding their new xDSD portable DAC/amplifier. This entry to the market seems to seek to directly compete with offerings from similar boutique audio companies, like the Chord Mojo, which I reviewed many months ago. Regrettably, the device has since left my hands, so I won’t be able to do a direct comparison. However, continue we must.

This one has been a long time coming. I've spent a lot of time with this product, and now have a much more holistic understanding of both the technology and its sound. This is a very full-featured product, just as the Pro iCan and the Micro iDSD Black Label were. And as an aside, iFi continues to get massive props from me for paying insane attention to microscopic detail in all of their products. But we'll get to all that below.

Chord sent me their portable DAC/amplifier combination, but I'm sure anyone reading this already knew that; the thing is near famous in its area. I've had a lot more fun with it than I expected to, and am very impressed with what Chord has put together here.

This review has taken me much longer than average to get written out, and the reasons, I think, will be evident through reading it. This product is absolutely jam packed with features, and every single one is precisely, nigh-perfectly, executed. I give massive props to iFi for managing to put out something as rock-solid as this, given how new they are as a company. I think that this is phenomenal introduction to their "Pro" line, and I am very excited to see what else they put out under that title.